Downer's missile claims 'fanciful

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Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu. right, looks across to his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer during a joint news conference in Sydney.Picture:Reuters

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has claimed that
North Korean missiles are capable of striking Australia and branded its
administration drug traffickers and illegal arms dealers.

On Sunday, Mr
Downer departs for North Korea to act as a mediator in its stand-off with
the United States over its nuclear weapons program. It is only the second
visit by a senior Australian minister in almost 30 years. He may now face
a cold reception in Pyongyang.

Arms experts told The Age it was
"nonsense" and "fanciful" to suggest North Korea's missile program posed a
threat to Australia.

A spokesman for the North Korean embassy said:
"Even a two or three-year-old child knows that's not true."

Mr Downer
told Sydney radio station 2GB that the regime had developed long-range
missiles. "They could fire a missile from North Korea to Sydney," he
said.

He also referred to the ship Pong Su that allegedly dumped heroin
on the Victorian coast, and said North Korea had an "active and
significant drugs trafficking operation . . . There are two ways they've
made money and one of them is out of that and the other way is out of
illicitly exporting missiles".

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Ron Huisken, leading arms control expert
at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies
Centre, said there was "no sensible basis" for the claim that North Korean
missiles could strike Australia.

"It is a big leap from where they were
in 1998 when they last tested. The projection becomes completely
fanciful," he said.

Even the longer-range missiles the North Koreans
could develop in 15 years would be unlikely to reach Sydney, Dr Huisken
said.

Last year, Mr Downer told parliament that the development of the
North Korean missile that could possibly reach Australia, the Taepo
Dong-2, "is probably still some years away".

The director of the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Hugh White, said Mr Downer's claim
was not sensible.

At a subsequent news conference, Mr Downer said
yesterday North Korea was working on missiles that could reach Melbourne
or Sydney, but was not planning to use them against Australia.

"I'm not
suggesting for a minute that they are intending to use these missiles and
fire them in our direction," he said.

"But it's an illustration of the
sorts of capabilities that they've been working on."

Mr Downer warned
that North Korea's nuclear program could lead to a regional arms race and
"a dramatic deterioration in the security environment in north Asia".